Voice services may be supported at a customer premise by a multimedia terminal adapter (MTA). A MTA may be provided to a subscriber within an embedded MTA (EMTA). An EMTA provides subscribers with the combined functionality of a cable modem and a phone adapter, thus supporting both data and voice services at a customer premise.
Generally, an alarm system at a subscriber premise is connected to the premise's telephony wiring. Telephony wiring may be routed through an alarm interface (e.g., registered jack (RJ) interface such as an RJ31x jack) such that the alarm interface may seize the premise's telephony system to make an outgoing call when the alarm system is triggered. Typically, an alarm interface is installed between an EMTA and one or more telephony interfaces (e.g., twisted pair termination). When an alarm is triggered, the alarm interface drops voice service to the one or more telephony interfaces existing beyond the alarm interface. However, the EMTA may not be able to determine when an alarm event has occurred, and connections between the EMTA and other telephony devices may not be dropped.
Cable services are typically located in a home office or central location within a home. An MTA may then route communications from the network to the telephony network of the home. In order to be able to take control of and terminate connections of telephony devices to the network, the alarm interface is generally installed between the MTA and telephony devices. However, the MTA may provide a direct connection to telephony devices. When an alarm condition occurs, an MTA is typically unable to recognize the alarm condition, and telephony devices connected directly to the MTA will stay connected, thus preventing the alarm interface from seizing control of the phone network. Therefore, a need exists for improving methods and systems for recognizing an alarm event and terminating a connection between an MTA and telephony device when the alarm event is recognized.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.